Car park tickets

[eMeS]

I suspect a figure of speech - "it took me like half an hour of faffing" would be something most people would say if it took maybe 2-3 minutes.

No way - I was with my daughter (who lives in Blackpool), and it really did take her around 30 minutes to get the app for Milton Keynes set up and credited so that we could visit the shops, with her car parking suitably validated. (Her son is disabled and that's why we used her car rather than mine for this visit.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

No way - I was with my daughter (who lives in Blackpool), and it really did take her around 30 minutes to get the app for Milton Keynes set up and credited so that we could visit the shops, with her car parking suitably validated. (Her son is disabled and that's why we used her car rather than mine for this visit.)

Gross technical incompetence, then...it is just RingGo, it takes minutes to set up.

So far as I'm aware for a blue badge (if it's that) you just stick it in the window.

Not sure what you mean by credited, you just put your card details in and pay for each use. Or just pay card at the machine.

 

[BingMan]

Slightly off topic, but I'm always mystified by people who belive parking should be free. The provision costs a lot of money, asphalt, drainage, lighting, lining, cleaning and maintaining, and the loss of space that could generate revenue as a property.

Why should people who don't use the car park subsidise it for the people that do?

For the same reason that people who put their cars on their drive overnight subsidise people who leave them at the kerbside all night.

In all cases it's likely that an unpleasantly venal and money-grabbing company operates the car park, so it is good advice already given which I second for anyone who falls foul of their tactics to go to pepipoo.com to get advice.

You sometime get the situation where the car park remains empty and the surrounding roads are clogged with parked cars.
I never pay to park at Macclesfield but park on the road near Arihi Bianchi

 

[TheSeeker]

SNCB Built a very nice underground car park at my local station. Quite a reasonable price for season ticket holders at €50 a month for 24/7 access. That still seems to be too high for most people as I've never seen more than a handful of cars using it. The town center has a zone for residents parking permits. Amazingly commuters park in my street which is just outside the zone but 15 minutes walk away from the station.

 

[BenS123]

My area, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), has their council car parks set up to accept RingGo, Paybyphone and JustPark which is really useful.

 

[david1212]

Presuming the car park is on 'Railway Land' be that owned or leased either by Network Rail or a TOC even if management is sub-contracted to e.g. APCOA the station booking office should be able to issue tickets / permits in addition to machines be they also railway or independant and any phone option. Questions to a booking office regarding disputes would reasonably simply provide the contact details for the management company.
Only if a general car park adjacent to a station on council or private land with totally unassociated payment methods would the booking office rightly say "nothing to do with us".

A charge to cover the actual ongoing costs e.g. cleaning, CCTV recording, active security and CCTV monitoring is reasonable. Further in some locations there has to be a charge to minimise if not prevent use by non-rail users particularly with many ' one trip ' tickets / combinations purchased on line in addition to season tickets. Some charges IMO are excessive e.g. Warwick Parkway @ £9.00 weekdays before 12:00 and £6:00 otherwise. Nearer to Birmingham Widney Manor which is managed by West Midlands Railway is free.

 

[Bevan Price]

Presuming the car park is on 'Railway Land' be that owned or leased either by Network Rail or a TOC even if management is sub-contracted to e.g. APCOA the station booking office should be able to issue tickets / permits in addition to machines be they also railway or independant and any phone option. Questions to a booking office regarding disputes would reasonably simply provide the contact details for the management company.
Only if a general car park adjacent to a station on council or private land with totally unassociated payment methods would the booking office rightly say "nothing to do with us".

A charge to cover the actual ongoing costs e.g. cleaning, CCTV recording, active security and CCTV monitoring is reasonable. Further in some locations there has to be a charge to minimise if not prevent use by non-rail users particularly with many ' one trip ' tickets / combinations purchased on line in addition to season tickets. Some charges IMO are excessive e.g. Warwick Parkway @ £9.00 weekdays before 12:00 and £6:00 otherwise. Nearer to Birmingham Widney Manor which is managed by West Midlands Railway is free.

If you think that is excessive, you must never have been to WCML stations. Runcorn, for example charges £12 per day (Monday-Friday peak hour rate) - which is higher than the most expensive return fare to Liverpool (£10). No wonder that so many people prefer to drive, despite toll charges now applying to the cross-Mersey road bridges.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you think that is excessive, you must never have been to WCML stations. Runcorn, for example charges £12 per day (Monday-Friday peak hour rate) - which is higher than the most expensive return fare to Liverpool (£10). No wonder that so many people prefer to drive, despite toll charges now applying to the cross-Mersey road bridges.

Runcorn is a bit stuck in a gap between North West local stations (which tend to be free or very cheap) and London bound InterCity stations (which tend to be very expensive, because you're comparing it to a fare of around £100). Not sure of how to fix that, really - there's no equivalent of Bletchley/Wolverton which can offer a lower price than MKC as they're only used by local services - there is Runcorn East but it doesn't have Liverpool services.

Those living in Runcorn who don't want to drive into the city may be well served by parking at Liverpool South Parkway which is free and probably only takes minutes more to get to (it is in a way all a bit Skem, being another new town with a fast road link to another existing station). I do wonder if it'll gain charges when it gains a fast London service...

 

[CyrusWuff]

The usual reason given when people challenge railway car park prices is that they're set at a similar level to other car parks in the area to discourage non-rail users from using them.

Pre-Covid TOCs had various schemes to reduce those prices for passengers (e.g. Chiltern offering free parking for the day if you had three or more people in the car, reduced rates when paying for parking along with a ticket, etc) but those mostly seem to have been dropped now.

 

[Bevan Price]

Runcorn is a bit stuck in a gap between North West local stations (which tend to be free or very cheap) and London bound InterCity stations (which tend to be very expensive, because you're comparing it to a fare of around £100). Not sure of how to fix that, really - there's no equivalent of Bletchley/Wolverton which can offer a lower price than MKC as they're only used by local services - there is Runcorn East but it doesn't have Liverpool services.

Those living in Runcorn who don't want to drive into the city may be well served by parking at Liverpool South Parkway which is free and probably only takes minutes more to get to (it is in a way all a bit Skem, being another new town with a fast road link to another existing station). I do wonder if it'll gain charges when it gains a fast London service...

I don't know what it is like now, but I am told that, pre-Covid, Liverpool South Parkway car park could be full before 08:00 on Monday to Friday.

 

[jupiter]

Anyone know how many different parking apps there are now? Why on earth can’t we just use a card on the machine? It’s still an electronic transfer after all.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Anyone know how many different parking apps there are now? Why on earth can’t we just use a card on the machine? It’s still an electronic transfer after all.

Presumably RingGo (or whoever) need to know which vehicles had been paid for. The app links to the number plate. If you buy a parking ticket from the machine you’ve then got to traipse back to your vehicle to display it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Anyone know how many different parking apps there are now? Why on earth can’t we just use a card on the machine?

In many cases you now can, e.g. Milton Keynes centre parking (which is one reason why I'm flummoxed by the report above!)

 

[Howardh]

Anyone know how many different parking apps there are now? Why on earth can’t we just use a card on the machine? It’s still an electronic transfer after all.

Although I do drive, I only drive rarely and use shops with totally free parking. The thought of using apps etc to park scares me, so I won't; and also the chance of mistakes being made, registration not being scanned properly on exit etc.

Yet I'm more than happy to pay for bus and train rides via an app, i suppose it's because if I have difficulty there's someone on the train/bus/station to assist and there are alternative ways to pay (ie machine).

I'm of the opinion that a car park should only charge if it's manned like the old days, ticket in, show on the way out to the operative and pay. Just think of all those job opportunities!

 

[david1212]

If you think that is excessive, you must never have been to WCML stations. Runcorn, for example charges £12 per day (Monday-Friday peak hour rate) - which is higher than the most expensive return fare to Liverpool (£10). No wonder that so many people prefer to drive, despite toll charges now applying to the cross-Mersey road bridges.

I'm well aware there are plenty dearer than Warwick Parkway however there is nothing else in reasonable walking distance to need to price match.

Back years ago non-railway use was managed by ad-hoc users buying their Edmundson card parking ticket at the booking office with their train tickets then either taking back to the car to display or the registration number recorded at the booking office. Back ~15 years Banbury still had a car park attendant and the registration number recorded by the booking office.

Now car park use by non-railway passengers is almost impossible to monitor. Somehow for the railway to maximise passengers and hence income as well as the government commitment to reduce pollution there has to be change but with concessions no or little incentive for the TOC's to do this.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In most cases it is managed by charging more than local public parking.

 

[Wychwood93]

In most cases it is managed by charging more than local public parking.

You probably need to expand that a little - my local station is not somewhere you would park to go to the town centre. 'Shopping' parking would be cheaper in the town - uncertain what a daily 'town' rate would be. Although I do take your general point.

 

[WizCastro197]

It's because SWR decided to bring in the car park parasite known as APCOA with their CCTV 'Gotcha' cameras (rather than SWT who used CP Plus which at least patrolled the car park to ensure vehicles were parked correctly etc). All the ANPR cameras do is ensure passengers have paid, even if someone arrives to pick up/drop off someone and the train gets delayed pushing them over the hidden away (deep on a sign) 20 minute parking allowed.

More of an annoyance if you want to park for longer than a single day as you are forced to use the app/phone, which for some more elderly passengers is a step too far.

For some rural car parks it should be free parking (maybe with a car park split with a cheap area for overnight stays) yes there might be a tiny number of people who abuse the parking but for some stations (ie Battlebridge on the Southminster line, or Haddiscoe (Norwich - Lowestoft line) the cost of maintaining the equipment must outweigh the income.

For those urban stations, have a system which is controlled by barriers, with free parking available for genuine rail passengers (maybe also display a code on the platform). Regular passengers soon find the free parking areas away from the station.

hmm Yes. Southern also have said parasite APCOA. Earlswood used to be free but now does charge £8.00 or more for the day. On Sundays at Redhill I have found, the APCOA machines don't always work or are switched off somehow forcing people to use the irritating website.
Also with the 'Nothing to do with us'
I have also see this at Redhill who have Gotcha Cameras, a lady went to ticket office already flustered and asked if she pays for parking ticket here (ticket office) and the guys says no ' we don't control car parks' so the lady presumably didn't pay as she said she didn't have time and ran off to the platform.

 

[Wookiee]

Slightly off topic, but I'm always mystified by people who belive parking should be free. The provision costs a lot of money, asphalt, drainage, lighting, lining, cleaning and maintaining, and the loss of space that could generate revenue as a property.

Why should people who don't use the car park subsidise it for the people that do? If I get the bus to the train station car drivers don't give me a subsidy, yet it is almost expected that parking should be, since 'free parking' really means paid for through the cost of your product, be it a train ticket or a loaf of bread in Sainsbury's.

It's totally unrealistic - the amount of revenue that would be lost now is astronomical, or at least would have been pre-Covid. There was a suggestion upthread that park & ride stations should have free parking, but they are the least likely because of their captive market. Take the example of Southampton Airport Parkway - 900 spaces at £17 per day, almost all of which used to be occupied Monday to Friday. Who's going to suggest to their exec board that they give up that kind of income stream?

 

[Gathursty]

It's totally unrealistic - the amount of revenue that would be lost now is astronomical, or at least would have been pre-Covid. There was a suggestion upthread that park & ride stations should have free parking, but they are the least likely because of their captive market. Take the example of Southampton Airport Parkway - 900 spaces at £17 per day, almost all of which used to be occupied Monday to Friday. Who's going to suggest to their exec board that they give up that kind of income stream?

The Park & Ride philosophy is to get people out of their cars instead of causing congestion in cities. It should NOT be there to punish commuters for making the environmentally better choice by charging them, certainly not £17 a day!!!!!

 

[Kite159]

Although Southampton Airport Parkway does have the issue with having the airport next door, which probably increases the rail car park pricing (otherwise people flying from the airport will park in the station car park presuming they didn't pre-book parking, as it will be cheaper than the airport parking).

Similar to Luton, but with less of a walk from the station car park to the airport

 

[Wookiee]

Although Southampton Airport Parkway does have the issue with having the airport next door, which probably increases the rail car park pricing (otherwise people flying from the airport will park in the station car park presuming they didn't pre-book parking, as it will be cheaper than the airport parking).

Similar to Luton, but with less of a walk from the station car park to the airport

Clearly the significant downturn in traffic at Southampton Airport since Flybe went under hasn't resulted in a rethink of pricing policy in the station car park! I do take your point though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Park & Ride philosophy is to get people out of their cars instead of causing congestion in cities. It should NOT be there to punish commuters for making the environmentally better choice by charging them, certainly not £17 a day!!!!!

There are two types of P&R, those on the fringes of an urban area and railheads. Pretty much all the ones for London are the latter.

 

[philthetube]

T Meanwhile it is a real faff to still carry around an obscure £3.40 in coins for four hours in a typical Peak District National Park site.

Thats what ash trays are for.,

 

[Bald Rick]

No way - I was with my daughter (who lives in Blackpool), and it really did take her around 30 minutes to get the app for Milton Keynes set up and credited so that we could visit the shops, with her car parking suitably validated. (Her son is disabled and that's why we used her car rather than mine for this visit.)

I set up the MK parking app on my ancient iPhone last week - took a minute at most. I’m not doubting that yours took 30 minutes, but there must have been some sort of problem not experienced by most…

 

[Bletchleyite]

I set up the MK parking app on my ancient iPhone last week - took a minute at most. I’m not doubting that yours took 30 minutes, but there must have been some sort of problem not experienced by most…

As there are machines you can pay at, I'm not sure I'd not have given up after 5 minutes and just paid at one of those!

 

[Bald Rick]

As there are machines you can pay at

at the car park I was at, the machine was OOU.

 

[geoffk]

I agree it's very much a case-by-case basis. Many urban and central stations are surrounded by roads that either a) charge, or b) you cannot park on as they are in a resident permit zone. It would be disproportionate for the railway station parking to then be free or significantly below the local value of parking, as then it will be filled up with people with no railway business.

That being said through Covid there was a lot of spare parking available at stations previously filled to the brim (e.g. London & SE commuter stations); I don't know if that has rebounded much or whether prices have have decreased to balance the supply and demand.

I guess car parking is a cash cow for the train companies and one where prices are not regulated as fares are. This is seen as more important than persuading car users to use trains. Most car parks at stations in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire are free apart from those in the centre of large towns and cities and a few weeks ago I found the same in the South Wales valleys. The most annoying are the ones where the station is right on the edge of the town and only a rail user would want to park there, e.g. Thirsk and Bromsgrove. I usually manage to find somewhere on street that's nearby.

 

[fandroid]

Judt

Apologies if this has been covered before, I did a search but could not find anything relevant.

Arriving at a South Western Railway station recently, I found that there are no ticket machines in the car park, but there was a notice advising to buy a ticket from the ticket machine on the platform. I went to the only ticket machine, but it was out of order. Why do small stations only have one ticket machine?

So, I went to the ticket office and was told that the ticket office could not sell car park tickets, as the car park was "nothing to do with us". Really? The only reason that car park exists is for intending train passengers to park their cars, there is nothing else nearby that would justify a car park. Expanding that argument, would the ticket office tell me they cannot sell me a ticket for a Great Western Train, because they are a different company? In effect, the ticket office (which, apparently, is under threat of closure) is telling me that the machine on the platform can provide me with a better service than the ticket office can.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm sure the ticket office staff would be more than happy to sell me a car park ticket if their system allowed it, it must be frustrating for them to have to tell passengers that they cannot sell car park tickets.

The ticket office advised me to use the telephone service provided by the car park operator. My only previous experience of this was when I arrived at Basingstoke station on a Sunday and didn't have time to buy a car park ticket (Those who know Basingstoke will understand that involves walking from the car park to the ticket machine, back to the car park with a car parking ticket, back to the station, going under the station to get to the main entrance and finally getting to the platform). I attempted buying a ticket using my phone on the train. However, I kept losing signal part way through the transaction and had to start again. Also, my car registration includes, D, B, 5 and 9 and the voice recognition system on the telephone service kept getting my car registration wrong. It was somewhere between Woking and Surbiton that I finally completed my purchase. A simple improvement would be for the voice recognition system to recognise the phonetic alphabet.

Just a thought. At Basingstoke there's no actual obvious statement on the notices or the station TM bought tickets that you have to display the ticket in the car. The TM does require the car reg to be input. I've only done this once, when the RingGo App was down and I had no time to go back and forth before the train departed. I'm hoping that APCOA have feed from the TM system!

Judt

Just a thought. At Basingstoke there's no actual obvious statement on the notices or the station TM bought tickets that you have to display the ticket in the car. The TM does require the car reg to be input. I've only done this once, when the RingGo App was down and I had no time to go back and forth before the train departed. I'm hoping that APCOA have feed from the TM system!

As for free parking, that simply wouldn't work there. Before an upper deck was added, the car park was often full. Plenty of people genuinely wanting to park to catch a train were left with some uncertainty as to whether they'd be able to park anywhere. Knowing that there would be a rise in income almost certainly justified the adding of upper decks not only at Basingstoke, but all along the SW mainline

 

[route101]

At East Kilbride railway station, the car park has a barrier and parking is free but I dont recall ever having to insert or take a ticket from the barrier.